Spatial analysis of perceived insecurity in Barcelona: The role of adjacent neighbourhoods and psychosocial factors involved

This research analyses the factors that could be involved in the insecurity perceived by the inhabitants of 69 neighbourhoods in Barcelona from the possible influence of the adjacent neighbourhoods. A set of variables are constructed from different sources to measure their influence on the insecurity perceived by residents. Ordinary least-squares regression models were replaced by others that consider the spatial dependence of the data. The results show that when controlling for the influence of adjacent neighbourhoods, ethnic heterogeneity, satisfaction with police services, social disorder, and socio-economic status are significantly related with the insecurity perceived in each neighbourhood. However, when spatial autocorrelation is corrected, crime density in the neighbourhood is not related to perceptions of insecurity, nor there is clear evidence that insecurity is affected by crime levels in adjacent neighbourhoods.